Eng 1010 Essay 3: Justifying an Evaluation

Assignment: Write an essay of min. 1000 words that evaluates a subject (such as a movie, television program, book, magazine, computer game, music album, concert, play, dance performance, an actor's performance, or a player's performance). Base your evaluation on standards of value that readers will be likely to agree are appropriate for judging the subject. For a thorough description of writing that justifies an evaluation, read St. Martin's Guide, chapter 8, which includes sample essays by professional writers and students. For a sample essay by an MTSU student, see Portfolio Guide, page 37. For specific page numbers in St. Martin's, refer to the Schedule.

Topic: To arrive at a topic, follow instructions in St. Martin's on "Considering Topics for Your Own Essay," but omit suggestions for a topic that does not require research ("evaluate your performance as a student, your athletic ability") or a topic that requires too much research ("evaluate a government agency"). Choose a subject that has a "text," a source that you can document; obviously, a book qualifies as a text, and so does a television show, movie, dance performance, concert, and the like.

Purpose: Your general purpose will be to persuade by argumentation. More specifically, you are to apply appropriate standards of value to your subject and provide readers with a convincing argument that supports your evaluation of the subject. You want your readers to agree with your evaluation.

Audience: Choose a specific medium in which you might publish your essay: a campus newspaper (Sidelines), a local magazine or newspaper (The Daily News Journal, The Nashville Scene, The Tennessean), a special interest magazine or journal (Premiere, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, Wired, a sports magazine, historical society newsletter, etc.)

Invention and Writing Draft 1: You are required to follow through on the "Guide to Writing.
 Be sure to follow instructions completely, including writing lists for possible subjects (culture, written work, leisure) and all other writing prompts. You are expected to generate several pages of invention--at least five handwritten. Also follow instructions for writing and revising draft 1 carefully and completely. 

Due Dates and Submission Requirements: See schedule.

Traps to Avoid: You will want to avoid the following problems especially:

Choosing a topic that is not appropriate--one that requires no research, too much research, or has no source to document; or one that is too broad (war movies rather than one particular movie, such as Saving Private Ryan)
Failing to assert a clear and strong judgment
Failing to sufficiently describe the subject for readers who may be unfamiliar with it 
Seeking to evaluate the subject from memory only (writers should not attempt to evaluate a movie, e.g., unless they have an opportunity to see it two or three times, nor should they evaluate a novel unless they have to read it)
Failing to apply appropriate standards of evaluation (when evaluating a movie, e.g., a writer should know its genre, such as horror, American western, romantic comedy, and be able to determine suitable standards of evaluation for the particular genre)
Failing to support the judgment with evidence (details from the "text")
Focusing on the writer and using "I" instead of focusing on the subject

Argumentative Writing: See Portfolio page 36

Reminder: Re-read the assignment instructions after you have written a draft of the essay. Make your own checklist of requirements and apply them to your essay.